personal experience we have a hell of a city going there. and you've done an incredible job in the face of all this. >> even comedy understands the importance and somberness of this event. good morning, everybody. i'm brian shactman. incredible amount of news to update you on this wednesday, april 17th. we're learning details about the bomb that killed the three people and injured more than 170 during the marathon on monday. we'll get into how the findings are guiding investigators toward the person or people responsible for the attack. we're also getting to know the three victims who were killed, how two of them wound up in the line of fire and the new information about the third still unidentified casualty. i want to start with the details surrounding the explosives used in boston, the two lingering questions this morning -- who built them and why? the associated press obtained these photos of what remains of

a pressure cooker which was used as the delivery device for the explosives. law enforcement sources tell nbc news that the bombs were built to act like homemade ieds. and take a look at what remains of the black duffle back used to conceal the device. sources tell nbc news the bombs appeared to include a battery pack and the "boston globe" reporting investigators recovered part of a circuit board at the scene. the bombs were also packed with shrapnel to maximize damage and a black powder known as low explosive. in other words, the device was not capable of creating a massive blast wave, instead, the main purpose was simply to maim and to injure fans at the event. photos obtained by whdh in boston showed the area where the bomb was left moments before and moments after the detonation. the fbi is looking at these photos and others like them for clues as to who placed the bombs

and when they may have placed them. there is precedent for devices like these. in 2004, the fbi sent out a memo on the use of homemade pressure cooker bombs. al qaeda's online magazine gave instructions for making them just last month. and in the 2010 attempted attack on times square, one of the devices found included a pressure cooker and 120 firecrackers. meanwhile, the search of an apartment belonging to a foreign student injured in the blast has turned up nothing and he is not considered a suspect at this point. yesterday president obama was direct in his characterization of the bombings. >> this was a heinous and cowardly act. and given what we now know about what took place, the fbi is investigating it as an act of terrorism. any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror. we also know this, the american people refuse to be terrorized.

because what the world saw yesterday in the aftermath of the explosions were stories of heroism and kindness and generosity and love. exhausted runners who kept running to the nearest hospital to give blood and those who stayed to attend to the wounded, some tearing off their own clothes to make tubandages, the men and women were still treating the wounded at some of the best hospitals in the world. so if you want to know who we are, what america is, how we respond to evil, that's it. selflessly, compassionately, unafraid. >> the death toll is at three with 170 people injured, 71 of them still hospitalized. joining us now from boston, chris jansing. this morning we're now learning more about those three people killed in the bombings. give us details on these three people. good morning, brian. well, the three really have

little in common except that each had come to watch the end of the marathon. martin richard, just 8 years old. he had gone to the race to watch the marathon with his parents and his 11-year-old brother and 5-year-old sister. according to the "boston globe," they took a break for ice cream before changing their seats to watch the end of the race at the finish line. today his mother who is a librarian at his school and his sister are still seriously injured and 8-year-old martin has become a symbol of innocence. this photo of him holding a sign reading "no more hurting people, peace," when he went on a peace march at his school, has been endlessly tweeted and shared across the globe. on "morning joe" we showed you the images yesterday. a chalk drawing he made over the weekend, still outside his home. and the word peace near the front of the house. by night fall, more than 1,000 people had gathered at a nearby playground in dorchester for a candlelight vigil. another victim identified just yesterday afternoon, krystle

campbell, would have been 30 a few weeks from now. at one point she moved in her grandmother for two years to care for her after she underwent surgery. tragically at the hospital, krystle's parents were first told that her friend who she had gone to the race with had died only to be told later it was krystle who was killed. >> we are heart broken at the death of our daughter krystle marie. she was a wonderful person. everybody that knew her loved her. she had a heart of gold. she was always smiling. you couldn't ask for a better daughter. i can't believe this is happening. she's such a hard worker at everything she did. this doesn't make any sense. >> the third victim was a boston university graduate student watching the end of the race with two friends not far from the school's campus.

university officials are releasing no other information pending permission from the family. brian? >> all right. thank you very much, chris live for us in boston. we'll see you later in the morning on "jansing & company." i want to bring together michael lightser. i guess now we know a little bit more about the bomb. so what sort of clues does that give us about maybe geography or who might be behind it? >> not that much, actually, brian. as people have reported, this bomb, this type of bomb has generally been used in south asia and it has been referred to by al qaeda in a magazine that al qaeda tried to use to recruit homegrown extremists. the problem is that that technology has really widespread. it is also been talked about by domestic extremist groups. so although it is predominantly used by al qaeda associated overseas, we really can't draw that conclusion now. >> one of the most fascinating part of the story is usually when there is a big terrorism event, a group or people come

forward and claim responsibility so the fact that there's been silence on this is a little bit perplexing. give us details on why they would or wouldn't do that? >> as a general matter, when al qaeda has been associated with an attack and it's an international terrorism group, that overseas group has taken credit. we haven't seen that. and my estimation is every day that passes that we don't see a claim from overseas, it makes it more and more likely that it's a domestic group. quite often domestic groups have not taken credit for it because taking credit for it would make them a much higher profile target for the fbi to go and find them. >> i want to get to the ricin story. do you -- it is strange to you that there isn't maybe more information that we've gotten? >> no. not at all. i think 36 hours in we have enormous amount of information. and the details about the bomb, construction of the bomb that, is critical nfction thinformati. >> pressure cookers, we've seen them in a couple different places.

it is raw. but they also need the resources to do it. is it an easy thing to do? >> it is a relatively easy thing to do. you can find instructions for how to do this on a bunch of web sites. it's not perfect. as we snaw in 2010? times square, it can fail. one of the beauties of this device is it's simplicity. if you do it right, it is going to explode. it's not going to blow down buildings but can do damage to people. >> on capitol hill, federal officials are resesting a letter sent to senator roger wicker to confirm that it contains poison. officials discovered the ricin laden note at an off site facility where all letters are searched. it's not clear why the letter was sent to the second term senator from mississippi. senator claire mccaskill says they are reading letters that

are written to senators. ricin is poisonous. there is no suspected link between the letter and boston bombings. but, michael, if this is ricin, what happens next in that kind of an investigation? >> well, i'm going to take a step back. i think we have to be very hesitant to say it is ricin. field tests quite routinely come back positive and ultimate scientific tests do not. so we don't know if it is. if it turns out to be ricin, whether there is any connection whatsoever to boston, that will take some time to develop. >> generally speaking, it's a separate investigation. they find ricin in a letter. what do they do? >> they're going to take. that it's going to be, again, investigated by the fbi. they will do testing in the laboratory today. they'll have results from that to understand if it is actually toxic. and then they'll work with the u.s. postal police to figure out where this came from and who might have sent it. >> do you think we will get a lot of copycat things coming through? >> we will. afteren event like boston, onnestly, the cooks come out of the wood work.

>> thank you very much. we'll see you later on "morning joe." leaders from around the world gathering in london for the funeral of margaret thatcher. right now her coffin is being carried through the city streets atop a horse drawn gun carriage. thatcher, of course, ruled britain from 1979 to 1990 and died april 8th of a stroke. just a few minutes her body will arrive at st. paul's cathedral where thousands of more thanners including representatives from 170 countries are waiting. annabel roberts is love in london for us. what else can we expect this morning? >> good morning, brian. i think you'll see a ceremony today full of pomp and a degree of pageantry. this is not a state funeral. but it's not far off. basically, there isn't a huge difference. and the queen is attending. margaret thatcher's son and daughter carol and mark have just taken their seats as you can see from the pictures, the coffin is being driven through

the streets towards st. paul's. it's on the back of a first world war gunriage being carried by horses. it will be there shortly for the ceremony which, as you say, is being attended by dignitaries from around the world. there is no member of the obama administration here attending this funeral today. however, there are some leading figures from reagan error, james baker, george shultz and also former vice president dick cheney is here along with henry kissinger. brian? >> just very quickly, why isn't it a state funeral? >> well, that is an interesting one. really, in order to have a state funeral, a vote has to be passed in the houses of parliament behind me to -- for that to be authorized. and margaret thatcher herself expressed a wish she did not want a state funeral because she

sensed that could be divisive. even so in spite of that last night, there was a debate here at the house of commons about whether parliamentary proceedings should be suspended today which in fact they have been given -- for this funeral. remember, of course, her policies were extremely divisive and even though it's more than 20 years since she left office, people love her or loathe her with a passion. brian. >> a lot of people know that story. annabel roberts, thank you very much. still ahead on "way too early," playing through the tragediment we'll check in on the boston red sox as they reflect on the marathon bombing and actually get back to baseball. also heroism at the scene of the attack. we'll hear from the man in a cowboy hat and how his reaction may have saved a life. that story and the check on weather whether "way too early" comes right back.

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especially heavy across south dakota and will fill in across parts of western and central nebraska where they could end up with another 6 to 12 inches of snow out of this snowstorm. winds will be gusty, too. it is going to be reducing visibilities. ahead of it across indiana through ohio and kentucky right now, we have stronger storms with a lot of cloud to ground lightning. the biggest threat of severe weather today will be back across oklahoma and southeastern kansas. there is the threat of isolated tornadoes occurring later on this afternoon and evening. but elsewhere in that area in yellow there, that's where we're also going to see wind damage with some stronger gustier storms and also the cloud to ground lightning. it is going to be a little bit busy back across the plains and then it slowly spreads eastward tomorrow. >> all right. thank you very much. let's turn to the world of sports where actually the sports world is reacting to their tragedy in boston. a moment of silence was held at progressive field before the indians hosted the red sox last night. it was the team's first game

since the attack. as for the game itself, the three-run double helped the red sox beat the indians in a seven-run second. hanging in the dugout a jersey with the words boston strong and the number 617 which is the area code for boston where the bombing took place. red sox second baseman spoke about getting back on the field. >> i was there the day before. and you don't -- you can't even describe how you feel. i mean it's just, you know, all of us, i mean that bus ride was silent. and still hard to put together. >> they finished the game and were on the way to the airport when the bombing happened. the new york yankees, of course, rivals of the red sox paying tribute to the city of boston. a sign that reads, united we stand between logos for the yankees and red sox was placed on top of yankees stadium before their game against the arizona

diamondbacks yesterday. and with stadium flags at half-staff, yankees played toonor the bombing victims.line" ♪ touching you sweet caroline ♪ ♪ good times never seem so good ♪ >> they even danced to it. don't get used to it. it's still our song at fenway park. the yankees won the game 4-2. the boston celtics canceled what would have been a matchup against the pacers. doc rivers weighed in on the situation. >> i mean this city has an amazing amount of spirit. it showed last night and today still. and you're angry, too. that starts now. you keep thinking about it. and, you know, it does make you very angry. >> beyond the boston tragedy, we have other sad news from the world of sports. pat summerall, one of the sports

most respected broadcasters died yesterday of cardiac arrest at 82. he is known for his plain forward style, best known for his 22-year nfl run in the booth with john madden. of course, one of the great et broadcasting teams in american sporting history. we need to lighten things up a little bit. it's good baseball. atlanta braves, five home runs in their game against the royals last night including a pair of solo shots by juan francisco that helped them win their tenth straight. the atlanta braves, who thought the washington nationals would have such competition. they're now 12-1 on the season. unbelievable start. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," we're going indepth to the reactions and bombings in boston. that is the cover, by the way. there is a poll that says terrorism is not a top concern of the american public. have we become complaisant?

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whoever did this obviously

did not know. [ beep ] about the people of boston. nothing these terrorists do is going to shake them. for pete's sake, boston was founded by the pilgrims. a people so tough they had to buckle their hats on! it is the cradle of the american revolution! a city that with stood 86-year losing streak, a city that made it through the big dig, a construction project that backed up traffic for 16 years! i mean there are commuters just getting home now! >> as a native boss tone itonia relate. the heroism has been breath taking. we notice one piece in particular that really hit on all the right notes. ann thompson whose roots are in boston has the story. >> reporter: if crisis reveals character, call boston courageous. carlos arrendondo, the man in

the cowboy hat is many that run to help instead of running away. >> i was carrying somebody who lost both of their legs. >> reporter: in the midst of the horror, arrendondo said he remembered his lowest point, when he learned his son alex, a marine, had been killed in iraq. grief stricken, arrendondo set himself on fire and rescued. he recalled his wife's words of comfort as he calmed jeff ballman jr. he lost his lower legs but survived. >> what i experienced myself and give something to conform him and give him hope and get him out of there as soon as we could. >> reporter: you can call boston kind. peter lives two blocks from where the bombs went off. leftovers from the prerace party were post race us is stannance to confused runners. zp we started feeding people and bringing out coffee. the little things we could do, my friends and i, to help people out in this time of tragedy. >> reporter: boston at times has been divided by class, ethnicity

and race. but it's always come together on marathon day, never more than in 2013 when nearly 6,000 people offered their homes online to stranded runners. yes, you can call boston generous. margaret smith invited three runners and five friends foo her home and fed the shivering group from kansas city. >> they were just sitting there not able to get into their hotel, not having eaten and they weren't complaining. they were just very charming. >> reporter: one of the runners, alley hatfield, posted pictures on her blog writing, people are good. and you can say that good boston, too. >> you know, that final picture there, that big man in the blue shirt, he is a former new england patriots offensive lineman. if you don't remember his history, his three brothers were firefighters from new york city who were first responders to the attacks on 9/11. of course, people called him a hero and he said the heroes are my three brothers in new york. still ahead, boston related e-mails from you watching at home and "morning joe" moments

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